Contributing: D8 Global Sprint 2015

You can still make an important contribution to Drupal 8. Drupal Global Sprint 2015-New England takes place this Saturday, January 17, from 10 AM to 5 PM at Genuine in Boston. Acquia is co-sponsoring the event and we invite you to RSVP and jump into the community. For local sprints around the world all weekend, check out this listing!

Even if you cannot attend, did you know one simple, small gesture to participate (hey, every bit counts) is by clicking the social media buttons above and adding "#SprintWeekend" to the promotion? Mere awareness and visibility of this effort yields the gratitude of global sprint organizers.

Drupal 8 is approaching the fit-and-finish stage of the march to release. All critical beta-blockers have been addressed, so new features and functionality are not on the docket for the sprint this Saturday. However, there are still plenty of opportunities for important contributions to Drupal 8!

The work this weekend will revolve around: CSS, markup, translatable strings, documentation, automated tests, as well as performance, security, usability, accessibility, bug fixes, or follow-ups to a recent critical or major issue. See the specific guidelines about allowed changes during this stage of the D8 project.

In addition, we will be polishing current features, reducing technical debt wherever possible, and writing documentation for many Core modules. There's novice and advanced development work needed at the sprint as well as various contrib projects which are beginning to embrace Drupal 8. Lastly, Search, RDFa mappings, theme, CSS work and more will also be sprinted on at this global event.

You can add to this plan, but if it's core related, please study the guidelines about allowed changes, which is summarized by the decision tree in Figure 1.

Note that only unfrozen and prioritized issues are automatically approved for sprint work. If you identify an issue that reduces technical debt or fragility, it could be added to the sprint work list, but only if it creates more benefit than potential disruptions that would result from the work. If you have a bug to submit, please use the Issue Summary Template here to support Core maintainers decision-making -- maintainers have the final say whether an issue will be included. If you'd like to understand how issues are assessed, we suggest you read about the Priority Level of Issues.

Documentation is sometimes overlooked, so Drupal-savvy writers are invited to join the sprint with the Documentation Working Group, both to contribute and to learn more about Drupal, the community and the open-source development process. You can also use your proofing skills to review translatable strings and the use of function names for consistency and spelling.

Another big need this weekend is testing. If you can write automated tests, we need you. Testing is a great way for developers who may be thinking of joining us for the first time this weekend.

Sprint participants can earn recognition as contributors to the issues they work on this Saturday, according to the usual standards for receiving credit on Drupal.org. It's also a fantastic opportunity to get involved for the first time. We're currently expecting more than 50 people, and we are eager to help newcomers get involved, as well as help you polish your Drupal skills while we put the shine on D8.

RSVP today and join us for the Drupal Global Sprint 2015-New England in Boston on Saturday, Jan. 17 from 10 AM to 5 PM at Genuine's office (500 Harrison Ave. 5R Boston, MA). We'll have fun, food, and drinks. You'll meet great people and learn a lot. And again, if you cannot join us in Boston, see if there is a code sprint in a city near you!

Figure 1: The process to determine the issues that can be included in the remaining Drupal 8 beta sprints

Content contributed by Mitch Ratcliffe.